Hillary Clinton's Definition of 'Dead Broke' Is Downright Offensive

In one of the worst attempts at trying to "relate to the people" by a politician in a while, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently bemoaned her dire financial straits at the end of her husband's second presidential term.

The 2016 hopeful was trying to defend the Clintons' exorbitant speaking fees when she told Diane Sawyer that she and Bill struggled to make ends meet when they left the White House and were "dead broke."

The power couple has raised many an eyebrow with their speaking fees, which range from the bargain $200,000 for Hillary up to a cool half a million for Bill. They've reportedly raked in over $100 million in the last 14 years from their speeches.

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But Hillary insisted the high fees were, like, totally necessary. She said, "We struggled to, you know, piece together the resources for mortgages, for houses, for Chelsea’s education. You know, it was not easy," Clinton said in the interview, which will air on Monday.

Poor dears! They had to struggle to pay all of their mortgages? All of their multimillion-dollar mortgages? There must have been much hand-wringing during that harrowing time of their lives.

And Chelsea's tuition! Undergrad at Stanford couldn't have been cheap. Nor the master's degree from Columbia and the doctorate from Oxford. It's a good thing she's "self-sufficient" now, as her dad Bill mentioned in May.

It wasn't just all those spendy mortgages and tuitions ... Bill and Hillary also owed about $11 million in legal fees. Something about a blue dress, an intern, and perjury. No wonder they had to charge such large sums to speak at events! No telling what kind of legal bills you can rack up when your husband can't keep his pants zipped in the Oval Office.

OK, so they racked up some pretty big debts due to their lavish lifestyle (and Bill's lack of will power). But when Diane Sawyer asked Hillary, "But do you think Americans will understand five times the median income in this country for one speech?" the former First Lady responded that it was better than making money as a lobbyist or consultant.

She said, "Well, let me put it this way, I thought making speeches for money was a much better thing than getting connected with any one group or company as so many people who leave public life do."

Look. Some people have a lot of money. I'm all for capitalism. Yay for being able to make money! And I sure hope that those venues got their money's worth when the Clintons gave their pricey speeches. It is what is -- Bill and Hillary commanded a price and found people willing to pay it.

But it's just insulting to go around pretending they were "dead broke" when there are real people in this country actually struggling to make ends meet -- without multiple million-dollar homes.